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The '''archaeology of Denmark''' presents an extraordinary rich and varied abundance of archaeological artifacts, exceptionally preserved by the climate and natural conditions in Denmark proper – including boglands, shallow waters, a cold and relatively unvarying climate.
At the same time, archaeological ''study'' in Denmark has continually and fundamentally influenced the young science of [[archaeology]] from its very beginnings.
'''Archaeology of Denmark'''▼
==History and excavations==
The prehistory of Denmark (Jutland) reveals that (following earlier [[Clactonian]] relics){{citation needed|date=October 2016}} many different cultures were to settle there and leave archaeological footprints since the end of the [[Last glacial period#Weichselian glaciation (Scandinavia and northern Europe)|last ice age]]. Their discovery parallels the ongoing evolution of Danish archaeology itself, which began in the early nineteenth century with the establishment of the [[National Museum of Denmark]], organised by [[Christian Jürgensen Thomsen|Christian Thomsen]]. It was he who introduced the [[three-age system]] – Stone, Bronze and Iron ages - to European archaeology, thus for the first time differentiating pre-history into distinct time-scales.<ref>Geoffrey Bibby, ''The Testimony of the Spade'' (Fontana 1962) p. 24-8</ref>
[[File:Møntskatten fra Møn 7162690187 0af34a0675 o.jpg|thumb|A treasure of medieval coins is being uncovered at the island of [[Møn]].]]
[[Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae]], one of Thomsen's early assistants, set out in 1850 to investigate an interesting find of flint tools linked to a heap of ancient oyster shells at [[Meilgaard Castle|Meilgaard]] in Northern [[Djursland]].<ref>Geoffrey Bibby, ''The Testimony of the Spade'' (Fontana 1962) p. 136</ref> Worsaae surmised that perhaps “this had been a sort of eating-place for the people of the neighborhood in the earliest prehistoric times”;<ref>Quoted in Geoffrey Bibby, ''The Testimony of the Spade'' (Fontana 1962) p. 138</ref> and further excavations indeed confirmed that the ancient shell heaps were signs of human prehistoric activity, being kitchen middens - Danish term ''[[køkkenmødding]]'' - and leftovers from their meals.<ref>The excavation site of the first ''køkkenmødding'' site is located in the forest of Nederskov, just north of the [[Meilgaard Castle|Meilgård manor]], near the beach and between the coastal villages of [[Bønnerup Strand]] and [[Fjellerup]].</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fortidsmindeguide.dk/meilgaard-boplads.js001.0.html|title=Meilgård bopladsen fra jægerstenalderen|trans-title=The Meilgård settlement from the hunter Stone Age|language=da|website=Danske Fortidsminder|publisher=Danmarks Kulturarvs Forening, DAKUA|date=January 2011|access-date=8 January 2015|archive-date=8 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200208101036/http://www.fortidsmindeguide.dk/meilgaard-boplads.js001.0.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> A later commission initiated in 1893-1895, executed a large scale, thorough and interdisciplinary excavation at the [[Limfjord]]. The site is named Ertebølle and so the rich and defining archaeological find coined the now well-known Stone Age culture of [[Ertebølle]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kulturarv.dk/1001fortaellinger/en_GB/erteboelle|title=Ertebølle - a world famous midden|website=1001 stories of Denmark|author=Søren H. Andersen|publisher=The Heritage Agency of Denmark|access-date=8 January 2015}}</ref> Apart from archaeology, participating scientific disciplines included [[botany]], [[zoology]] and [[geology]], and such kitchen middens has since been viewed as important archaeological sites internationally.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/1309589|title=Affaldsdynger fra stenalderen i Danmark, undersøgte for Nationalmuseet |trans-title=Waste heaps from the Stone Age in Denmark, investigated for The National Museum |language=da|publisher=Paris, A.A. Hachette|author=A.P. Madsen |author2=Sophus Müller |display-authors=etal |year=1900|access-date=8 January 2015}}. The original publication from The National Museum of Denmark, funded by the [[Carlsberg Foundation]].</ref> Due to land-shift after the melting of the ice, many kitchen midden sites, originally on the coast, were later submerged:<ref>Geoffrey Bibby, ''The Testimony of the Spade'' (Fontana 1962) p. 139-8</ref> The first submerged settlement excavated in [[Denmark]] was Tybrind Vig in 1977. The site was excavated over the following decade. 300 m from the shore and 3 m below the surface, divers excavated sensationally well-preserved artefacts from the [[Ertebølle culture|Ertebølle Culture]].
The kitchen midden culture stretched chronologically from c.5000 BC onward. Its immediate predecessor was the [[Mesolithic]] culture of [[Maglemosian Culture|Maglemose]], first uncovered in a Zealand bog in 1900; while from c. 2500 BC the midden culture would gradually come under the influence of the newly arrived [[neolithic]] farmer.<ref>Geoffrey Bibby, ''The Testimony of the Spade'' (Fontana 1962) p. 167 and p. 311</ref> Later Neolithic arrivals included the [[Corded Ware culture]], whose round barrows scattered the Danish landscape, each including a stone battleaxe: the gradual replacement of these latter by bronze versions over time marked Danish entry into the [[Bronze Age]].<ref>Geoffrey Bibby, ''The Testimony of the Spade'' (Fontana 1962) p. 280</ref>
A complex web of trading roots now linked Jutland with the remainder of Bronze-Age Europe. An overland route carried Jutland amber to [[Mycenaean Greece]],<ref>G. Childe, ''What Happened in History'' (Penguin 1954) p. 171</ref> while sea-routes also brought it to England,<ref>G. Clark, ''Prehistoric England'' (London 1962) p. 29</ref> and the Mediterranean.<ref>M. Cary, ''The Ancient Explorers'' (Penguin 1963) p. 147</ref>
The [[Iron Age]] came relatively late to Denmark, but again the bogs yielded an exciting and dramatic find, [[Tollund Man]]. The well-preserved body of a hanged man created intense interest;<ref>W. Bray, ''The Penguin Dictionary of Archaeology'' (Penguin 1972) p. 235</ref> it was associated by some with the accounts by [[Tacitus]] of sacrifices made to the goddess [[Nerthus]].<ref>Geoffrey Bibby, ''The Testimony of the Spade'' (Fontana 1962) p. 452</ref> [[Runes]] based on the Latin alphabet began to appear, and Roman imports among grave goods also show the increasing influence of the nearby empire by the first centuries AD.<ref>S. Price, ''The Birth of Classical Europe'' (Penguin 2011) p. 291</ref> For subsequent periods, Danish archaeology has worked alongside, instead of independently of, the historical record, exploring for example the conflicts of the Jutes and the Danes echoed in [[Beowulf]], or the roads, buildings, and runic inscriptions behind the later [[Viking]] kingdom.<ref>G. Bibby, ''Looking for Dilmun'' (London 1970) p. 3-4</ref>
== Notable archaeologists of Denmark ==
{{See also|List of Danes#Archaeologists|List of archaeologists}}
{| class="sortable wikitable" style="background:white; text-align:left; border:0 solid #aaa; :"
! Name
! Born
! Died
! Achievements
|-
| [[Christian Jürgensen Thomsen]]
| 1788
| 1865
| Introduced the universal [[three-age system]]
|-
| [[Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae]]
| 1821
| 1885
| Played a key role in the foundation of archaeology as a science. <br />Pioneered [[paleobotany]] and [[archaeological stratigraphy]] (in relation to the three-age system).
|-
| [[Sophus Müller]]
| 1846
| 1934
|
|
|-
| [[Georg F.L. Sarauw]]
| 1862
| 1928
| Pioneered fossilized pollen studies and discovered the [[Maglemosian culture]].
|-
| [[Peter Glob]]
| 1911
| 1985
| Internationally recognized writer and mediator of archaeology. <br />Internationally known for his excavations and investigations of [[bog bodies]]. <br />Led several large scale archaeological expeditions to the [[Middle East]].
|}
==Continuing Danish influence==
Denmark and Danish scientists played an important role in establishing archaeology as a science in the 1800s, and continue to contribute with fundamental methods and discoveries to this science in general. Denmark and Danish archaeologists has a long history of both international collaborations and engagements and public outreach, education and mediation of the results of archaeology. Many Danish museums plays a leading role in public outreach and mediation.
==Literary overlaps==
*[[Seamus Heaney]] in his poetry made Tollund Man a powerful symbol for helping to understand present-day violence.<ref>M. Parker, ''Seamus Heaney'' (1993) p. 105-8</ref>
*[[J. R. R. Tolkien]] based his description of Beorn's Hall in ''[[The Hobbit]]'' on archaeological reconstructions of an old Danish mead-hall.<ref>J. Rateliff, ''Mr Baggins'' (London 2007) p. 261</ref>
==See also==
{{Columns-list|colwidth=22em|
*[[Heorot]]
*[[Beaker culture#Jutland|Jutland beaker culture]]
*[[Megalith#Tombs|Megalith tombs]]
*[[Nordic Stone Age]]
*[[Ship burial]]
}}
== Notes and references ==
* {{Cite web|url=http://www.danskemuseer.com/english/WhatDanishArchaeologyMeanstoMe.html|title=What Danish Archaeology Means to Me|author=T. Douglas Price|website=Danske Museer [Danish Museums]|publisher=The Museums Service|access-date=8 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141103194736/http://www.danskemuseer.com/english/WhatDanishArchaeologyMeanstoMe.html|archive-date=3 November 2014|url-status=dead}}
{{Reflist|2|}}
== Sources ==
* ICOM Denmark: [http://icomdanmark.dk/the-danish-icom-committee/ The Danish ICOM Committee] Official homepage of the Danish national committee of ICOM (International Council Of Museums) in English.
* {{Cite web|url=http://www.danskemuseer.com/textinenglish.html|title=Danske Museer - Denmarks Museum Journal|journal=Danish Museums|publisher=The Museums Service|access-date=8 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206133550/http://danskemuseer.com/textinenglish.html|archive-date=6 February 2015|url-status=dead}} Official English homepage of the Danish archaeological journal "Danske Museer".
* Nordisk Museologi: [http://www.nordiskmuseologi.org/ The Nordisk Museologi journal]. Official homepage of the "Nordisk Museologi" (Nordic Museology) journal in English.
==External links==
{{Commons category|Archaeology in Denmark}}
* [http://www.abc.se/~pa/publ/tybrind.htm Excavating submerged Stone Age sites in Denmark: the Tybrind Vig example]
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{{Europe topic|Archaeology of|state=expanded|UK_only=no}}
{{Authority control}}
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